Glad Tidings QAL Day 5 - P, E, Tree, and C Blocks

***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***

Welcome back for Day 5 of the Glad Tidings Quilt-Along! 

Today we're making the last of our letter blocks and the cutest little tree!  If you decided to cut and make the two E blocks for today already, you're ahead of the game!  If not, I've included the pattern for making the E blocks again in today's instructions.

We got a little snow last night here in New Hampshire, and it's got me in the mood for snowmen!

My little Frosty Fellows snowman ornaments are made with scraps of felted wool and homespuns.  They're made entirely by hand using simple embroidery stitches—the perfect handwork for a cozy winter's night.

They're also so much fun to personalize!  You can use embroidery stitches, little buttons, or tiny bells to to embellish the snowmen—whatever you like or have on hand.

The pattern for Frosty Fellows is now available for download in my Etsy shop.

Have fun making your Day 5 blocks!  I'll be back here on Thursday for Day 6 and the last of our blocks—nearly there!!

—jen

Helpful links:


Glad Tidings complete pattern

Glad Tidings QAL Day 4 - N, Ornament, E, and L Blocks

***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***

Welcome back for Day 4 of the Glad Tidings QAL!

Today we'll be making a fun ornament block and more letters—yay!!  I'm loving making these little letter blocks!  

Charm packs are my favorite precut.  I love how they look stacked up in my stash and they're so pretty that it's hard sometimes to cut into them, but occasionally the stack (and the guilt :)) gets out of control, so I'm always trying to come up with ideas for charm pack quilts.  I've got two fun patterns in my Etsy shop that, like Glad Tidings, are made with a single charm pack, and this QAL had me wondering what they would look like made with Christmas fabrics.  First up is Cottage Garden:

It's beautiful in its original Harvest Road fabric by Lella Boutique for Moda, but I started thinking that perhaps the flowers could be Christmas flowers...  Here's what it might look like in my QAL fabric, Christmas Stitched by Fig Tree & Co. for Moda:

And here it is in I Believe in Angels by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda:

Village Square is another of my favorite charm pack patterns.  I originally made it in Fairy Edith by Material Girl Quilts for Riley Blake:

But here's what it might look like in Snowkissed by Sweetwater for Moda:

And in Joyful Joyful by Stacey Iest Hsu for Moda:

As I look at Village Square, I think it might also be fun to make with a Halloween charm pack.  Who knew that charm packs, and charm pack patterns, could be so versatile!  So many charm packs, so little time...

Have a great weekend and have fun making your "Noel" blocks.  Can't wait for Day 5!

—jen

Glad Tiding Quilt-Along Day 3 - J, Wreath, and Y Blocks

***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***

Happy Monday!  It's Day 3 of the Glad Tidings QAL!  Today we're moving on to our first letter blocks and they are a joy to make! 

I have to say, I'm really enjoying working this way—cutting a charm square, making a block, and stepping back to admire it before moving on to the next— instant gratification and so much fun!  It's also a joy to see your Glad Tidings blocks out there on social media.  Thank you so much for tagging me @jendalyquilts and using the hashtag #gladtidingsqal. :)

If you're looking for some more fast and fun holiday sewing, I've got a great idea for you—mitten ornaments!

These little mittens function just like a stocking and you can stuff them with treats before using them to trim your tree or decorate a gift.

 The pattern for the Mitten Ornaments is now available for download in my Etsy shop.

That's it for today!  Have fun making your blocks and I'll see you back here on Thursday for Day 4!

Happy quilting,

—jen

Helpful links:

Glad Tidings complete pattern

Glad Tidings Quilt-Along Day 2 - Star, Pinwheel, and Holly Blocks

***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***

Welcome back for Day 2 of the Glad Tidings Quilt-Along!

 

Hope you're still with me after all of the cutting on Monday!  Today we're moving on and making our first blocks—the Star, Pinwheel, and Holly blocks.  If you haven't already planned out which 5" charm squares you plan to use for the various blocks, you may want to do so before you begin today using the info contained in the green box on the bottom of the Day 1: Cutting page.

As I mentioned earlier, we'll be cutting the charm squares as we progress through the QAL.  A 5" square of fabric isn't exactly a forgiving size, so on each of the block instruction pages, I've included charm square cutting diagrams to help you out.  If you need to reserve any cut pieces for use in other blocks or in the pieced border, I've made a note either on the charm square cutting diagrams or in step 1 of each of the block making sections, so pay particular attention to the charm square cutting instructions as you go.    

Have fun making your blocks and if you'd like to share your work on Instagram or Facebook, please consider tagging me @jendalyquilts and using the hashtag #gladtidingsqal—I'd love to see what you're up to!  Stay tuned for Day 3 on Monday (12/5)—we'll be starting the letter blocks and I can't wait!

—jen

Helpful links:

Glad Tidings complete pattern

Glad Tidings Quilt-Along Day 1: Cutting

  

***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***

Welcome to Day 1 of the Glad Tidings Quilt-Along!

Today we're going to start with cutting.  Admittedly not my favorite part of the process, but necessary to get to the fun stuff :).  Because there are a lot of moving parts with this project—42 charm squares and 15 different blocks!—we'll be cutting only the background fabric today and cutting our charm squares as we move through the QAL.  To help you stay organized, on the instruction sheet, I've designated the background pieces that you'll need for assembling the quilt with a little †.  You can set these pieces aside until we assemble on Day 7 (12/19).

As I mentioned, we'll cut the charm squares as we go, but before we begin piecing on Day 2 (12/1) you may want to do some planning and decide which charm squares you intend to use for the various blocks.  On the bottom half of the cutting instruction sheet, you'll find a list of how many squares you'll need for each of the blocks to help with your sorting.  One thing to keep in mind—if your charm pack has a lot of light or low volume squares, you may want to reserve these for the pieced border to make sure that your blocks show up against your background fabric.

If you haven't had a chance to gather your materials yet, don't worry, we won't start piecing until Thursday so there's plenty of time to catch up.  Jump in whenever you can—the instruction sheets will be accessible throughout December and the complete pattern will always be available in my Etsy shop.

Good luck with your cutting—you've got this!!  I'll be back here on Thursday with Day 2 and instructions for our first blocks.  So exciting!

—jen

2022 Glad Tidings Quilt-Along Coming Soon!

I'm so excited to announce that the 8^th annual Jen Daly Quilts Christmas Quilt-Along is right around the corner!

Earlier this year, I designed a charm pack quilt called "Flutter By" for the Martingale/Moda Bake Shop book Charmed by Moda Bake Shop. 

"Flutter By" features several different blocks made with 5" charm squares and it was such a joy to make that I decided it would be fun to design a similar quilt for this year's quilt-along—"Glad Tidings" is the result!

"Glad Tidings" is a 28½" x 46½" row-style wall quilt featuring 15 different blocks organized in the shape of a Christmas tree and surrounded by a pieced border.  The project requires only one charm pack—I'll be using the Christmas Stitched collection by Fig Tree & Co. for Moda.

The Glad Tidings Quilt-Along will begin on Monday, November 28th and will continue every Monday and Thursday until December 22nd. Here's the schedule for your reference:

• Monday, November 28th - Intro/Cutting
• Thursday, December 1st - Rows 1, 2, and 3
• Monday, December 5th - Row 4
• Thursday, December 8th - Row 5
• Monday, December 12th - Row 6
• Thursday, December 15th - Rows 7 and 8
• Monday, December 19th - Assembly
• Thursday, December 22 - Finishing

The Glad Tidings Quilt-Along is free to all and there's no need to sign up. As we progress, I'll make each set of instructions available here and on the quilt-along page.  If you're on my mailing list, you'll also receive emails containing links to each day's instructions (sign up for email updates on the quilt-along page).  The instruction sheets will be available through the end of December.

**For those of you who'd like to work at your own pace or finish the project earlier (it would make a great gift!), this year I'll also have the complete "Glad Tidings" pattern available for download/purchase in my Etsy shop on November 16th.**

I'll do regular posts on Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #gladtidingsqal.  If you post pictures of your progress, be sure to tag me @jendalyquilts and use the hashtag #gladtidingsqal—I'd love to see what you come up with!

Ready to get started?  Here's a link for the materials page for the quilt-along:

 
Have fun choosing a charm pack and gathering materials for the project!  If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jendalyquilts@gmail.com.  Can't wait!

—jen

The Great Rollin' Along Giveaway - Enter Today!

I’m so excited to be the next stop on the Great Rollin’ Along Giveaway!! My fellow Moda Bake Shop chefs and I are hosting a giveaway on Instagram to celebrate the release of the latest Martingale/Moda Bake Shop book, Rollin’ Along. Rollin’ Along was compiled by Lissa Alexander and features a dozen quilts made with jelly rolls (2½” strips), including my Backcountry Cabins lap quilt!

On to the Giveaway! I’m giving away two prizes this week:

The grand prize is a copy of Moda Bake Shop Rollin’ Along AND a kit to make my Backcountry Cabins quilt! The kit includes a jelly roll of super cute Home Sweet Holidays by Deb Strain as well as background, border and binding fabric – you’ll just need to add your own batting and backing.

Second prize will be copies of both Rollin’ Along AND the recently released Did Someone Say Cake? That’s two books with 24 pre-cut friendly quilt patterns—woohoo!!

For more giveaway details and to enter, check out the contest post on Instagram.

And if you'd like to see the quilts featured in these beautiful books, check out the Martingale Trunk Shows for Rollin' Along and Did Someone Say Cake?

Good luck!

—jen